All posts tagged AV Referendum

David Cameron delivers his No to AV speech on Friday. He may now be more keen the campaign wins in May’s referendum. Photograph: Getty

In the summer months, when David Cameron was luxuriating in the afterglow of his Number 10 Rose Garden love-in with Nick Clegg, there was one subject he simply didn’t want mentioned: his failure to win the general election outright. Tories who suggested in the Prime Ministerial presence that a proper inquest into the duff Conservative campaign was required, on the basis that those who forget the lessons of history are doomed to repeat their mistakes, were told firmly to pipe down.

This weekend, as the Prime Minister contemplates the serious possibility of defeat in the AV referendum, he may have cause to wish he had listened, learned the lessons from the election and thought ahead. The implications for Cameron if the AV vote on May 5 is lost are potentially extremely serious. His parliamentary party would become almost uncontrollable. A senior Conservative backbencher told me: “I think we’ve lost on AV. I think it’s probably too late to claw it back and I think the consequences for Cameron are going to be much, much worse than he realises”.